Prints coming out dark

[pgk]

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Would some kind person please tell us if the soft proof in Lightroom and Imageprint are the same brightness (on the same screen) and if possible by how much they differ.

 

Having just attended a day of lectures on printing, one of the points raised was soft proofing and even the experts won't be categoric in saying it works as well as it should. Not an answer but an indication that its not as easy to achieve consistency as hoped.

[Genn]

I'd calibrated the monitor to 100 cd before printing

 

You may like to improve lighting conditions around your monitor - at workplace.   4 x 15W  4500 K additional fluorescent lamps might be enough.  Your print, illuminated with such light and monitor picture shall looks similar. 

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[adan]

Using 100cd for your monitor brightness is all well and good - IF your room/workspace brightness is also 100cd. if your workspace is darker than that, the prints viewed under that light will appear darker also, obviously.

 

Simple test - put a white sheet of your printing paper up against your computer screen (see example).

 

If your paper white, as illuminated by room light, doesn't match your monitor "white," as illuminated internally, then your print brightness won't match your screen.

 

I generally run my calibrated monitor with the brightness turned down to about 50% using the Mac's own brightness controls (F1-F2 keys).

 

Additionally, I adjust my room lighting, via lamps or window shades, so that "paper white" and "Screen white" brightness are as closely matched as possible.

 

In my example below, all I adjusted were my window blinds - starting with too little room light (paper looks much darker than the screen - obviously a print would also look comparably dark). Then opening the blinds until the "white" paper brightness matched, and then opening even more until the paper was much brighter than the screen (just for reference). The middle setting is the viewing environment under which my prints predictably match my screen.

 

Of course, you can also run around the house, or even outdoors, to view prints under other window light, or direct sunlight, or the light the print will be displayed in. It is a basic fact of physics (photons and all that) that print brightness will look different under different lighting - you have to choose the conditions under which you want the print to look right (in this case, matching the print to the computer). Calibration software helps - but has no idea how bright your room light is.

 

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Edited January 20, 2017 by adan

[LeicaPassion]

Adan,

 

A most helpful post. I will try my hand at digital printing this weekend after years of doing wet prints.

[tobey bilek]

80 to 90 CD is correct.  

 

The histogram is your friend so do not judge visually.    There normally is a black point somewhere in the photo which reads 015 or 020.  Then whites need to be around 245.   Turn on the left & right arrows and make the print dark so the blackest area turns blue,  then the highlights or whites  until the whites turn red.   

 

You can run the screen brightness up and down , but the underlying photo does not change. Measure and you will see.   Conclusion is you can not judge by eye unless BP and WP are correct first.

 

You need to be in soft proof mode and make the soft proof look like the original.  Check the box in the printer software to allow photoshop control color,  not the printer.   Having both on will double the profile corrections and make a mess.

 

Same thing needs to be done when sending out prints.

[RoySmith]

I have the book "the Adobe Photoshop LightroomCC book for digital photographers" by Scott Kelby. In it he addresses this problem.

As mentioned in the link in Jaap's post, the problem is caused by our monitors being backlit - whereas our prints are not, so they are darker. Since Lightroom 4 Adobe has provided a Print Adjustment option at the bottom of the Print Job Panel.

 

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The changes resulting from adjusting the Brightness and Contrast sliders are only apparent when you print the image, so you need to do some test prints to determine what settings your printer / paper require. Once you've determined how much to adjust these sliders you can use the same settings in future print jobs if you are using the same printer and paper. This workflow has worked for me with the Epson R3000 printer.

Image Print looks like a very good program, but it does not support my printer.